EU

Express
THE European Union has dropped its threat to blockade food exports to Northern Ireland after a huge trade row erupted with the bloc. Michel Barnier, the EU’s chief haggler, told his UK counterpart Lord Frost the EU was not serious about preventing food shipments being sent to the province. It comes after a “useful” week of informal talks between the two sides in Brussels as the post-Brexit negotiations reach a critical point. Earlier in the week Prime Minister Boris Johnson accused the EU of being “abusive” negotiators in the wrangling over a free-trade agreement. But Brussels diplomats have rowed back from the threat after it threatened to blow up the future relationship talks.

Sun
BRUSSELS’ chief is “convinced” a trade deal with the UK remains possible – but called Boris Johnson’s attempt to alter the Brexit treaty an “unpleasant surprise”. Ursula von der Leyen said Downing Street’s controversial UK Internal Market Bill had “distracted very strongly” from the two sides being able to secure fresh trade terms before the looming deadline. Meanwhile, the EU stated it will not move to make a compromise agreement with the UK over the controversial bill – leading the PM to accuse the bloc of being “abusive” to Britain.

Express
THE European Union could table new demands to prevent Britain from ripping up a future trade agreement after Boris Johnson’s threat to breach last year’s Brexit deal. Brussels sources said the bloc is now closely examining its “governance” position to ensure any future relationship pact with the UK is unbreakable. Michel Barnier is said to be assessing a much stricter framework to enforce the terms of any agreement struck before the end of the year. The move comes after the Prime Minister published legislation that would hand ministers the power to ignore EU customs checks and state aid rules in Northern Ireland.

Brexit

Telegraph
Dominic Raab, the Foreign Secretary, has urged US politicians to pressure Brussels into publicly ruling out a hard border on the island of Ireland, after the UK’s own position was criticised by Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden.  On the third day of a visit to Washington DC that risked being overshadowed by the very public warnings from Democrats over Brexit talks, Mr Raab used a CNN interview to try to turn the spotlight onto the European Union. “I think it would be helpful for all those concerned about this to elicit the same unilateral, absolute commitment not to require any infrastructure at the border between the North and the South.

Breitbart
Joe Biden has waded into the Brexit negotiations between the United Kingdom and the European Union on the EU’s side, signalling that, as President, he would punish the British for not submitting to EU control over the British province of Northern Ireland. “We can’t allow the Good Friday Agreement that brought peace to Northern Ireland to become a casualty of Brexit,” declared Biden, who has previously claimed that “Ireland will be [found] written on my soul” when he dies — although his colonial ancestor William Biden appears to have been an Englishman.

Guardian
Conservative MPs have reacted angrily to an intervention by Joe Biden, the US Democratic presidential candidate, in the UK Brexit talks, accusing him of ignorance of the Northern Ireland peace process. In a tweet on Wednesday, Biden warned the UK there would be no US-UK free trade agreement if the Brexit talks ended with the Good Friday agreement being undermined. He tweeted: “We can’t allow the Good Friday agreement that brought peace to Northern Ireland to become a casualty of Brexit.

House of Lords

Guido
Despite this morning’s compromise – quelling Common’s Rebel commander Bob Neill and making MPs passing the Internal Market Bill a likelihood next week – Government sources are not at all confident of getting the Bill over the next hurdle – the Lords. The earliest the bill could go to the Upper Chamber is the 28th September. There it faces not only opposition from a lawyer-stuffed house dominated by non-Tory remainers Peers, but also Brexiteers like Michael Howard who have today refused to accept the compromise.

Migrants

Sun
THE Home Office does not know how many illegal migrants live in the UK, an MPs’ report says. The Commons Public Accounts Committee said the department is also clueless as to how many people come here legally but do not renew visas. And the report accused it of basing immigration policies on “anecdote, assumption and prejudice” instead of evidence. Chairman Meg Hillier said: “The Home Office has frighteningly little grasp of the impact of its activities in managing immigration.

Holidaymakers

BBC News
The government is launching a new initiative to help UK travellers heading to the EU after the Brexit transition period ends in December. Anyone booking a European trip for 2021 will be urged to check a dedicated web page beforehand. From January, the UK will no longer be following EU rules and travellers may need to take extra measures. These may include having health insurance or an international drivers licence. Crucially, it warns people that they may be unable to travel unless their passports are valid for at least another six months from their date of travel. And passports must be less than 10 years old.

Express
A government campaign aimed at helping British travellers prepare for Brexit changes is being launched today. The information, published in print, online and on social media, explains the new rules coming into force for trips to the European Union from 1 January, after Britons voted to sever ties with the bloc in the 2016 referendum. People are being warned they may not be allowed to visit most EU countries if their passport does not have both six months left until it expires and is less than 10 years old.

Sun
THE UK government has issued a new warning for British holidaymakers heading abroad next year. The UK is currently in the transition period of Brexit, but this will end from January 1, 2021. UK visitors will face extra checks as of January 1, when we exit the EU’s single market and free movement zone. Earlier this year, the government launched a £93million publicity campaign called “Check. Change. Go.” urging Brits to get ready now for next year’s changes.

Second wave

Mail
Hospitals have been warned they must clear beds and brace themselves for a rise in coronavirus patients in the next few weeks.  Covid-19 cases, hospital admissions and deaths are all on the rise, government figures revealed yesterday as more than 10 million people will soon be living under local lockdowns as the North East became the latest to impose restrictions.  Yesterday another 3,395 Covid-19 infections were recorded, meaning the rolling seven-day average number of cases has risen 2 per cent in a day and 33 per cent in a week to 3,354.

Telegraph
Hospitals and councils have been told to find extra beds for coronavirus patients within two weeks as the NHS braces for a second spike in cases. With hospital admissions beginning to increase following a steep rise in virus infections, isolation units in which Covid-19 patients can recover are being set up, freeing space on wards for those needing the most care. More than 10 million people will soon be living in local lockdown areas after the North East became the latest region to impose curfews, with Liverpool and parts of the West Midlands expected to follow within days.

Vaccine

Mail
The government could use emergency powers to vaccinate the public against Covid-19, it was revealed last night. Ministers would utilise regulations to bypass EU laws if a vaccine becomes available prior to the end of the Brexit transition agreement on December 31, as reported by the i.  Even if a possible vaccine has not been passed by the European medicines watchdog the government will push to use it due to the threat the pandemic poses.

Care homes

ITV News
Carers have expressed their alarm at being told to prepare for another wave of coronavirus patients to be discharged from hospitals into care homes within days. An email leaked to ITV News reveals how one council has asked care homes to state by noon tomorrow whether or not they are ready to accept infected residents.  An official at Middlesbrough Council states: “It is likely in the coming days and weeks that we will see residents leaving hospital that are Covid-19 positive. “If any homes are not able to accept residents with a positive result and isolate appropriately, will you please let [us] know…by 12 noon 18/09/2020.”

Spectacles

Sun
WEARING glasses could reduce your risk of catching coronavirus, a new study suggests. Experts in China found that just 10 per cent of patients admitted to hospital with Covid-19 early in the pandemic needed glasses. Scientists from the Second Affiliated Hospital of Nanchang University say that the eyes are one of the ways the virus can get into the body. The researchers claim that frames could act as a barrier for Covid to attach itself to ACE-2 receptors – the specific protein that provides the entry point for coronavirus to hook into.

‘Circuit break’

Mail
Downing Street is considering tightening lockdown rules across England for a fortnight in a ‘circuit break,’ solution to rising Covid-19 levels – with an announcement coming as soon as next week which could see pubs, restaurants and hotels shut to prevent a ‘significant,’ number of deaths. It comes as 10million people are told to follow new lockdown rules as Lancashire is placed under curfew alongside the North East. Reports claim the Government’s chief scientific adviser and medical officer have warned another serious outbreak of coronavirus could lead to a significant number of deaths by the end of next month.

Sun
SCIENTISTS advising the Government want a two-week national lockdown next month to battle the surge in coronavirus, it is reported. Downing Street is keen to “circuit break” the surge in cases, The Financial Times reports. Experts have now suggested an October lockdown during half term before the virus “breaks the NHS”. It comes after the Government played down reports that Chief Medical Officer Chris Whitty is pushing for a fresh fortnight lockdown with fears cases are as high as 38,000 a day.

Sky News
Health Secretary Matt Hancock has not ruled out a second national lockdown, telling Sky News: “We’ll do what is necessary to keep people safe.” It has been reported that scientists advising the government have proposed a two-week national lockdown in October to try to tackle the rising number of coronavirus cases. Asked about those reports and the possibility of a second national lockdown, Mr Hancock told Sky News’ Kay Burley: “The last line of defence is full national action and I don’t want to see that but we will do whatever is necessary to keep people safe in a very difficult pandemic.”

Sun
DOWNING Street has played down claims that top doc Professor Chris Whitty is pushing for a fresh two-week national lockdown amid fears coronavirus cases could be as high as 38,000 a day. Anthony Costello, who sits on the independent SAGE panel, said last night that England’s chief medical officer had suggested the new shutdown to curb the spread – but later backtracked. The expert claimed the Government fears daily Covid-19 cases could be ten times as high as the daily reported figures amid a national testing fiasco.

Testing

Times
Government laboratories that are processing coronavirus tests use cumbersome techniques, are running out of staff and have failed to set up automatic processes before a second wave, The Times has been told. A scientist who has toured the facilities said he was appalled as it became clear that the labs were increasingly struggling to cope with demand. Yesterday a blame game broke out at Westminster over testing. Baroness Harding of Winscombe, who oversees the test-and-trace programme, suggested that predictions by scientific advisers had not anticipated demand for tests.

Guardian
Dido Harding, the head of the NHS test-and-trace programme and the newly created National Institute for Health Protection, has told parliament’s science and technology committee that demand for coronavirus tests across England is three to four times higher than capacity. The total capacity is now 242,817 tests: 82,817 in the NHS and Public Health England (known as pillar 1) and 160,000 in the community (pillar 2).

Telegraph
The country’s beleaguered test and trace system is to be outsourced to a giant delivery firm such as Amazon, secret plans reveal. A tender for the management of the entire “end-to-end” supply chain will be issued next month, calling for a logistics firm to take over its running. A Government source said “experts in delivery services” were needed to help the beleaguered service cope with the increased demand for tests, adding: “At the moment, the management of NHS Test and Trace has been in-house but, as we go into winter, we need experts in this area to take it forward.”

Mail
AN ON-THE-SPOT Covid test which delivers a result in 90 minutes could transform diagnosis in NHS hospitals this winter, experts say. A study published last night revealed the CovidNudge test – a machine the size of a shoebox – does not deliver any ‘false positive’ results, meaning all those who test positive are carrying the virus. It has a ‘specificity’ of 94 per cent – meaning 6 per cent of those given the all-clear will actually have the virus – but this is far better than the 70 per cent specificity rate seen with the standard Covid test.

Sun
A NEW 90-minute coronavirus test is 94 per cent accurate and can be done at home, experts have revealed. The rapid testing device does not require a lab and so far the government has placed an order for 5.8 million of the kits. It comes as people across the country have scrambled to get tested for the virus as many sites have reached full capacity. Health Secretary Matt Hancock this week said that tests would be reserved for those who need them most.

Times
On-the-spot virus testing machines that can give results in less than 90 minutes could be used in schools, offices and theatres after they achieved accuracy levels that compared well with large NHS laboratories. The machines have already been approved by regulators and are being used to test musicians of the London Symphony Orchestra as they gather to rehearse. A study published today in The Lancet Microbe shows that the system detected 96 per of the positive Covid-19 cases that were identified by the standard laboratory machines used by the NHS, which take several hours. In a trial involving nearly 400 participants there were no false positive results.

Local lockdowns

Times
More than ten million people in Britain are living under local lockdowns after the government added the northeast to the list of areas affected by restrictions. Residents in the region have been banned from meeting people outside their households while restaurants and pubs will be made to close at 10pm to stop the spread of infection through late-night socialising. Matt Hancock, the health secretary, told the Commons: “From tomorrow, in Northumberland, North Tyneside, South Tyneside, Newcastle upon Tyne, Gateshead, Sunderland and Co Durham, residents should not socialise with other people outside their own households or support bubble.”

Guardian
Nearly 2 million people in north-east England will be banned from mixing with other families under the strictest measures imposed since the country eased out of nationwide lockdown. The restrictions, which will come into force at midnight on Thursday, will prohibit residents in seven council areas from meeting others outside their support bubbles and include a 10pm curfew on nightlife. People in the affected areas should only use public transport for essential purposes, such as travelling to school or work, and avoid attending amateur or semi-professional sports events as spectators.

Cancer

Mail
Surgeons have been forced to ‘play God’ by selecting which patients they operate on during the pandemic, leading doctors warned yesterday.  The toll among cancer patients who have missed out on treatment may surpass that of Covid itself, they admit.  Ben Challacombe, a urological surgeon at Guy’s and St Thomas’ in London, said: ‘We may eventually win the battle with Covid and lose the war with cancer.’  He said many patients were arriving with severely advanced cancer because they had not sought treatment during lockdown.  ‘The second resurgence of cancer will come, unfortunately,’ he said.

Europe

Times
Rates of coronavirus transmission have reached alarming levels in Europe and should be a “wake-up call”, the World Health Organisation says. “We have a very serious situation unfolding before us,” Hans Kluge, its regional director for Europe, said. “Weekly cases have now exceeded those reported when the pandemic first peaked in Europe in March.” They “should serve as a wake-up call for all of us”, he said, adding: “Although these numbers reflect more comprehensive testing, it also shows alarming rates of transmission across the region.

Fox News
A World Health Organization official this week warned of the “alarming rates of transmission” of the novel coronavirus in Europe, urging residents there to view the “very serious situation unfolding before us” as a “wake-up call.” Dr. Hans Kluge, the regional director of WHO Europe, made the warning during a virtual press conference on Thursday when noting that weekly cases “have now exceeded those reported when the pandemic first peaked in Europe in March.” “Last week, the region’s tally exceeded 300,000 patients,” he said.

Troops

Times
A bill aimed at curbing vexatious claims against troops is “dangerous and harmful” to the reputation of Britain’s armed forces and the safety of UK personnel, the prime minister has been warned. Military and political figures have urged Boris Johnson to reconsider the “ill-conceived” legislation, which will return to the Commons next week at committee stage. The former head of the armed forces Field Marshal Charles Guthrie, the ex-defence secretary Sir Malcolm Rifkind, and Dominic Grieve, a former attorney-general, last night sent a letter to Downing Street raising concerns about the Overseas Operations (Service Personnel and Veterans) Bill.

Smart meters

Telegraph
Smart meters could allow energy networks to switch off central heating systems under proposals being considered by the watchdog. The plans, tabled by Scottish and Southern Electricity Networks (SSEN), would allow distributors to contact consumers directly to ask for permission to temporarily turn off appliances with high usage, including heat pumps and electric vehicle chargers. There are fears that mass uptake of these green technologies will put pressure on the energy network.

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